A/N: One-shot.
He is out there, among the stars.
Leia looked up at the dark sky, sprinkled with glittering points of light she knew to be stars and planets. She knew the science- the chemistry, the numbers- of it all. Yet, she knew that a long, long time ago, people had looked up at the stars and thought they were the souls of loved ones, guiding them and comforting them in the night. Something to look up to. Something to cling to.
She had felt his presence leave this galaxy- felt the light extinguish as it left his eyes and took a part of her heart with it. She knew that in that sense, he was gone.
But she looked up, and saw those millions of stars and wondered if perhaps Han was there. She hadn't studied Jedi lore like Luke had, but she felt a wave of solace come over her- a sense that she was somehow right, that Han was watching. He wouldn't appear in robes when she was in need- he would not glow a soft blue. No, if he was there- and somehow she just knew he had to be, because a light that bright could never burn out- he was as young and handsome as his laughter, flying his Falcon and cheering her on.
She knew.
She couldn't tell which one he was, exactly, but she thought maybe he would be one that twinkled in and out of sight, as he had in life. One minute he was there, lavishing her with kisses and that gorgeous smile, and the next his eyes would lose a bit of their luster and he'd have to go on a job.
Have to. That was what he always said.
She was no fool- she had known who she had fallen in love with. Han Solo would never be a stay-at-home father and husband. It was all there in his name. He was a wanderer, a lost boy who dreamed of open skies and light speed. She would have to satisfy herself with being the anchor to a wild kite. She would never get a ring or a normal life- that dream had died long ago. But when a little boy with his father's unruly hair looked up at her, she had known it had all been worth it. And he would come back.
He loved her. She knew.
But that would never be enough to keep him home. "That was why I left- so you'd miss me"
Her breath caught in her chest a moment and she knew that perhaps she wasn't feeling the depth of the loss, not really. She couldn't help but feel that maybe he would still come back to her, like he always did.
Always.
She drifted off to sleep, tears streaming down her cheeks in spite of years apart and a reunion that had felt bittersweet and temporary.
Above her, among the stars, a single light twinkled.